christopher price

Why Julian Edelman has played so much this season

Asked on Monday if he could sense a difference in how he was being used last season and how he’s been deployed through the first two regular-season games of 2012, he acknowledged an increase in playing time, but also volleyed the question right back to a reporter.

“I’ve gotten a little more clock,” he responded. “Have you [sensed a change]?”

“A couple more snaps,” he added.

It’s been more than a couple more snaps. Thought to be a fringe receiving prospect with more special teams value than anything at the start of camp, through two games, Edelman has seen a tremendous increase in playing time from 2011 to this year. According to our friends at Pro Football Focus, Edelman had 182 snaps at wide receiver last season. Through two games this year, he’s already had 99 snaps at receiver, per a press box count from WEEI.com.

Asked Monday about the extra reps, Edelman painted it as no big deal, saying it’s all part of life in the Patriots’ offense.

“You know what? I just go into the game doing whatever the coaches ask me to do. I prepare each and every day like I’m going to be playing, and if my number is called, my number is called,” said the former college quarterback, who also continues to work as New England’s primary punt returner.

While much of Edelman’s playing time has been tied to fellow receiver Wes Welker, here are five reasons why Edelman has seen a dramatic increase in playing time over the first two weeks of the regular season:

He’s a better receiver than he was last year.

Anyone who has watched the Patriots on a regular basis over the course of the last three years can tell you Edelman is a better receiver now than he was at this point last year. He is able to get separation from defenders, he’s a better and more consistent route-runner and is clearly more confident in his role in the offense. He’s never going to be mistaken for Jerry Rice, but he’s certainly a more polished product in his fourth year than in his third year, and the Patriots have adjusted their expectations for him accordingly.

He has six catches through two games, and while it’s a relatively small sample size, if he can continue to average three receptions a game, he will break his career high for catches (37), which he set as a rookie in 2009. (He should also easily break his personal best for yardage in a season, 359, also set as a rookie.)

One of the things that has undoubtedly made it easier for Edelman this season is the fact that he has to only concern himself with the offensive side of the ball. Last season, he was pressed into service on defense, working part-time as a defensive back and seeing a significant snaps along the way. He said Monday that despite the fact that he’s back to contributing solely on offense, his approach hasn’t changed.

“I’m actually dealing with it the same,” Edelman said. “You go in on Tuesday, get the game plan, and you do what the coaches ask you to do and you go out there and do it to the best of your ability. That’s what I’m doing, and that’s what I’ll continue to do.”

The wide receiver group has less depth now than in years past.

Over the last 10 years, the Patriots have usually utilized between five and seven different wide receivers. (They have had seven for most of the last three seasons.) However, the Patriots opened the 2012 season with just four: Edelman, Wes Welker, Brandon Lloyd and Matthew Slater. Even with the continued emergence of the tight ends and (to a lesser extent) the running backs in the passing game, there are going to more opportunities for receptions with fewer receivers, particularly considering that Slater is almost exclusively a special teamer. Edelman is the one who has benefited the most from the increased targets and more playing time -- through two games, he had six catches on eight targets.

Welker admitted as much in a revealing Q&A with WEEI on Monday, saying that he missed a week of the preseason because of a death in the family, and adding that when you miss a week, “it’s like missing two weeks back in the day. ... Missing that time and stuff, it hurts, I agree with you. Especially now that you don’t get as many reps.” It’s also worth mentioning that before the start of the regular season, he had no problem saying he wished he could have used more preseason reps.

However, Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Monday that it certainly hasn’t appeared that Welker has had to play catch-up because of the time he missed, saying, “Wes has a lot of experience around here. I think he’s one of our smartest and obviously most experienced players. I don’t really see him behind.”

“I love Wes. He’s like one of my best friends,” quarterback Tom Brady told WEEI on Monday. “What he does on a daily basis to prepare himself really motivates everybody else. He’s a leader. He’s so tough. I’ve been in so many critical, critical situations with him where he’s worked so hard to do the right thing and vein the right place and make the play. He’s a phenomenal player.”

With a new offensive coordinator, he’s getting more opportunities.

While the offensive game plan hasn’t changed dramatically under Josh McDaniels as opposed to Bill O’Brien, it’s reasonable to think that, based on the first two games, McDaniels sees something in Edelman that O’Brien didn’t. As a result, he’s getting more opportunities. And with the recent ankle injury to Aaron Hernandez, he figures to get more chances going forward.

Edelman said Monday he isn’t sure how things will change with Hernandez out of the lineup.

“It’s terrible to see one of your better players go down -- one of your best players. It’s unfortunate. But we’re going to have to move on and hope he gets back quick,” Edelman said. “My job as a player is to do what I’m asked to do. Like I said, he’s a great player, but I have to focus on what I have to do to help contribute to this team.”

Through the first two games, he’s a better personnel matchup for the Patriots than Wes Welker.

We haven’t gone back and rewatched the coaches’ film of the Cardinals’ game, and so we’ll have to take the Patriots’ word for this one, but Brady said Monday that the reason Welker wasn’t in the game at the start was because of personnel groupings, a point echoed by Belichick.

“We have a lot of different personnel groupings with [Welker] in the game,” Brady explained to WEEI. “There’s a lot of guys on the roster, and we’re trying to utilize every player so that at the end of the year one guys doesn’t have 700 plays and another guy has 50 plays. Hopefully everyone can contribute and have opportunity and be fresh and stay healthy. Because we need everybody. It’s a long year.”

“We have different combinations of personnel groups out there in every game, all the time, pretty much every week,” Belichick said. “That’s pretty much the way we run our offense, and we have for quite awhile. The players that we have out there are the ones that we feel are best for that particular play, situation, however you want to look at it. That’s the way we set up the plays, the offense. When they’re called then we put that group out there. Whatever is out there is what we feel is best for our team for that time, for that play, for that situation.”

Greg and Chris talk with Mike Reiss from ESPN Boston in hour 2 of NFL Sunday to discuss a variety of offseason happenings with the Pats and throughout the league. Greg and Chris also get into the NFL Draft and where Mariota and Winston will go.

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Mut, Tomase, and Bradford kick things off talking about Shane Victorino taking offense to people reading into some comments he made about trading for Cole Hamels. They also discuss Blake Swihart and how soon he could be up if Christian Vazquez starts the season on the DL.

Joe Kelly joined the Hot Stove show where he talked about being ready for his next spring training start after a biceps ailment forced him out of his last outing, he talks about his NCAA brackets and how teammate Wade Miley has a perfect bracket still.

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The Sunday Skate crew gets the show going discussing the Bruins big, impressive victory over the NY Rangers yesterday. What can you take from that game? According to LB - Lyndon Byers - who called the guys from the road, not a lot. LB drops a dime on what was going on with the Rangers yesterday. DJ and Joe discuss Claude's lines and groupings and the importance of Ryan Spooner. They also get into Lucic, his contributions this year and if he can turn things around.

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